#kusamakura

[papermenageriie]

From Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki (1906)

[netego]

The poet has an obligation to dissect his own corpse and reveal the symptoms of its illness to the world.

Sōseki Natsume, The Three-Cornered World

[crazyfox-archives]

“Woman exposed to the setting sun on the rock” by Kimura Sōichi (木村宗一), from a set of picture scrolls illustrating the novel “Kusamakura” (草枕) by Natsume Sōseki

Image from “漱石世界と草枕絵” by 川口久雄, published by 岩波書店, 1987, color plate 3-21

[inertescapist]

Approach everything rationally, and you become harsh. Pole along in the stream of emotions, and you will be swept away by the current. Give free rein to your desires, and you become uncomfortably confined. It is not a very agreeable place to live, this world of ours.

Natsume Sōseki, The Three-Cornered World    

[usagiomega]

Whups

[read-it-in-a-book]

Natsume Soseki - Kusamakura

“If you let yourself become involved with worldly gossip past a certain point, the stench of the human world seeps in through the pores of your skin, and its grime begins to weigh you down.”

[katiesclassicbooks]

"It strikes me now that poets are great sufferers; they seem to have more than double the nervous sensitivity of the average person. They may experience exceptional joys, but their sorrows too are boundless. This being the case, it's worth thinking twice before you become a poet"

-Kusamakura by Natsume Sōseki

[thedustofwords]

“If you work by reason, you grow rough-edged; if you choose to dip your oar into sentiment's stream, it will sweep you away. Demanding your own way only serves to constrain you. However you look at it, the human world is not an easy place to live. And when its difficulties intensify, you find yourself longing to leave that world and dwell in some easier one—and then, when you understand at last that difficulties will dog you wherever you may live, this is when poetry and art are born.” — Natsume Soseki, Kusamakura